Q3 result shows Airtel India performed better than Vodafone Idea

February 7, 2019

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have revealed their financial performance for the third quarter of fiscal 2018-19.
The India business of Bharti Airtel is headed by its CEO Gopal Vittal and Vodafone Idea is managed by its CEO Balesh Sharma.

Airtel India’s total revenues dropped 3 percent year on year to Rs 14,768 crore. Airtel India’s mobile services revenues dipped 5 percent year on year to Rs 10,189 in Q3 fiscal 2018-19. This apart, Airtel India also generates revenue of Rs 3,111 crore from business clients, Rs 383 crore from DTH and Rs 550 crore from fixed broadband business.

Vodafone Idea’s total revenue fell 2.2 percent quarter on quarter to Rs 11,765 crore. Vodafone Idea does not reveal its specific revenue from enterprises and it is part of the total revenue. Vodafone Idea does not have any present in DTH business. But it has limited presence in fixed line.

Airtel generated mobile service revenue from 284.2 million mobile phone customers on its 2G, 3G and 4G networks. Vodafone Idea had 387.2 million subscribers as on 31 December 2018.

Capex of Airtel India’s mobile service business was better than Vodafone Idea. The Capex of Airtel India’s mobile service business dropped 24 percent to Rs 3,727 crore in Q3. Vodafone Idea’s Capex dropped significantly to Rs 1,169 crore in Q3 from Rs 3,295 in Q2 due to the ongoing network consolidation and delay in finalizing network suppliers.

Airtel India has 273,600 km of optic fiber cable network (OFC) vs 263,507 in September 2018. The investment in its nationwide optic fiber network will assist Airtel to introduce 5G services in coming years.

Vodafone Idea has over 198,000 2G sites and over 376,000 broadband sites on 3G and 4G networks. Vodafone Idea has ~240,000 km of OFC vs ~239,000 in September 2018.

Vodafone Idea added 11,123 4G sites. Vodafone Idea’s 4G population coverage improved to over 64 percent from less than 50 percent in August 2018.